Friday, October 3, 2014

Toureography

Like everyone else at Parc Guell, one of Antoni Gaudi's many masterpieces* in Barcelona, I was waiting to snare a photo of the trencadis dragon (trencadis is tiled mosaic) at the entrance. It struck me—as it had for days throughout our happy pilgrimage through Barcelona's highlights—that we all have the same so-called unique experiences, which we all jockey to photograph.

The other thing that hit me was that the more interesting image was not the tourist-magnet of the dragon but instead the way everyone's poses were almost choreographed. Whether as singletons or in groups, once holiday-makers bagged their shots, they moved out of the frame to make way for the next wave. At Parc Guell, the best moment for me was the dance of the Gaudi-watchers instead of the Gaudi work.

*The park started life as a housing project for the wealthy and was converted into a park by the city of Barcelona.